


how about we stop calling it a spare key

by emptymasks



Series: i dreamt about you last night and i fell out of bed twice [5]
Category: House M.D.
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Confessions, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s03e11 Words and Deeds, Established Relationship, Feelings, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Missing Scene, Older Man/Younger Man, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 15:02:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21478309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emptymasks/pseuds/emptymasks
Summary: One night. Just one measly night of jail time, and now Tritter was out of his life for good. Not that being in the cell was a barrel of laughs, but at least this time it was a cell of his own. All he had to do was occupy himself for the next sixteen hours. Sleep would take most of it, daydreaming about Tritter dejectedly slumping back to the precinct could gleefully take up the rest Tritter trotting off back to the station and slumping down at his desk, head in his hands and thinking 'why did I even bother trying, I should have know I was no match for him'.After about five minutes of that House took off his jacket and tied it into something vaguely resembling a ball and threw it against the wall. He'd expected it might make a better sound on impact than it did. Perhaps if he stared long enough at the corner of the ceiling a TV might appear, didn't have to be a big TV, could even just be a phone... Well now, why wait until he was out tomorrow to call Chase?
Relationships: Robert Chase/Greg House
Series: i dreamt about you last night and i fell out of bed twice [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547803
Comments: 6
Kudos: 78





	how about we stop calling it a spare key

One night. Just one measly night of jail time, and now Tritter was out of his life for good. Not that being in the cell was a barrel of laughs, but at least this time it was a cell of his own. All he had to do was occupy himself for the next sixteen hours. Sleep would take most of it, daydreaming about Tritter dejectedly slumping back to the precinct could gleefully take up the rest.

Cuddy was going to hold this over him for a while, but she'd never be as strict as she threatened to be, she never was. Wilson would talk to him and forgive him no matter what, though it did seem that apologising for things and being honest helped a lot with that. He'd call Chase in the morning to pick him up once he was out-

Oh. Well that was the first time he'd automatically gone to Chase, a lifetime of having Wilson be a personal taxi was a hard thought not to jump to, but his brain had gone straight to Chase. Hopefully he had heard about the verdict and wasn't worrying himself stupider than he already was. It didn't take a mind-reader to see that Chase was a whole lot more anxious and scared about the verdict than he was trying to let on. Completely unnecessary of course, House had never doubted for a moment that he wasn't going to be found guilty. When he caught Chase staring at him, his stupid pretty eyes full of concern, something in him twinged and felt guilty though. How ridiculous was that, feeling guilty for making Chase worry. Chase seemed to be making a habit of worrying his pretty little head when it came to House and House was just starting to move on from processing that to sort of maybe accepting that.

Great, now he was feeling worried about the possibility of Chase feeling worried. Was it fucking contagious? He imagined how less stressed out Chase would be when he saw him in the morning, free from going to prison and free from withdrawal. The muscles in his face were not moving into a smile and if they were it was from the idea of being outside and having vicodin again... and okay maybe a little bit to do with seeing Chase smile. God, he felt like gagging just from thinking that.

Okay, new thoughts. Tritter trotting off back to the station and slumping down at his desk, head in his hands and thinking 'why did I even bother trying, I should have know I was no match for him'. After about five minutes of that House took off his jacket and tied it into something vaguely resembling a ball and threw it against the wall. He'd expected it might make a better sound on impact than it did. Perhaps if he stared long enough at the corner of the ceiling a TV might appear, didn't have to be a big TV, could even just be a phone... Well now, why wait until he was out tomorrow to call Chase?

"Hey, do I still get a phone-call?" The nearest guard approached. "You know a guy gets lonely all locked up in here?"

"You'll be out in the morning."

"Oh but what if my poor, old mother hasn't been told the verdict, I'd just hate for her to be up all night worrying." House wasn't putting any effort into the lie and either the guard was extremely gullible or just really didn't care. He suspected it was both.

The guard lead him out to the phone and House began to dial numbers and paused for a moment to stare at the guard, but he remained unmovingly and annoyingly close. House finished punching in the rest of the numbers and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hey sexy," House turned and grinned at the guard who looked appalled so perhaps he had really thought House was talking to his mother after all.

"House?!" Chase cried from the other end of the phone, followed by some fumbling.

"The excitement of hearing from me isn't so great you just passed out is it? I know I tend to have that affect on people."

"No, no," Chase chuckled. "I was just laying down before you called."

"Aw, crying into you pillow over how much you miss me?"

Chase didn't answer. House hoped he hadn't been crying.

"S'not my pillow," Chase mumbled and if the quality of the call was just a little more crappy House would have missed it.

"You're crying onto someone else's pillow. Colour me jealous."

"I'm _not_ crying... into your pillow."

He was House's apartment?

"You're at my apartment?"

"Well... I... It was closer?" It was adorable when Chase tried to lie, his voice got all high pitched and everything came out like a question.

"Uh huh, why are you at my apartment?"

"You'll laugh."

"Oh I most definitely will."

He heard Chase sigh and give in. "It... I missed you, I miss you. And yes I know I saw you earlier today and yes I know you'll be home tomorrow, Wilson told me, but I still felt worried and you're apartment isn't closer but it is more comfortable than mine and it uh... your bed smells like you."

House didn't laugh. He would have if all Chase had said was that he missed him, sentimental idiot, but then he'd gone and said he missed House's smell... whatever that meant... it definitely didn't cause any warm or fuzzy feelings. And there was that word again, 'home'. Chase had said it last week after Tritter had pulled him aside for that lunchtime chat. House had picked up on it and hadn't said anything. They were both worked up that day, Chase being upset and himself mourning the loss of his vicodin, and he figured it was just one of those slips like when someone accidentally calls their teacher 'Dad'. Two's a coincidence, three's a pattern, though House usually found that two was often a pattern.

"House? You still there?"

Oh great now Chase was all nervous about whether he'd said too much.

"My bed smells like me?" Oh great so the worrying was spreading and now so was the stupidity.

"Yeah...?"

"And that's a good thing."

"Yeah."

"Oh." House blinked at the wall. Not being able to think of what to say straight away, that was new. He had this voice in his head telling him to be careful about what he said next, that was new too. "Shall you be picking me up and bringing me back _home_ tomorrow?"

"I could, yeah. Yeah, okay I'll pick you up."

"Could you wear something extra special under your clothes? I hear that's something people do when they finally get to see their prison boyfriend."

"You are barely my prison boyfriend, and I'm coming to bring you back home not coming in for a conjugal visit."

And there's the third time.

"You got into my apartment with the spare key I gave you?"

"No, I somehow stole yours while you were in court without leaving the hospital-"

"It's not a spare key anymore." House wasn't super sure what his plan was here. He knew where the goal of these sentences was but the path his brain was taking to get there was questionable. "Well not if you don't want it to be, it would just be a key."

"It's already a key... Oh. _Oh. _Like... it wouldn't be a spare key because it would be another key, just like yours?"

"Yeah," House said and Chase stayed quiet. "It can't take you that long to decide between my nice apartment and your shoe box." He was not going to be bothered if Chase said no, because Chase was not going to say no because Chase never said no to him (apart from that one time) so there was no reason to worry about what would happen if Chase said no to him.

"You passed out this time, blondie?"

"Uh, no, I um," Chase's voice was ragged, and had that little quiver to it like he got when he was emotional or crying.

"No as in you didn't pass out, or no as in you're not moving in with me?"

Chase exhaled. "No, I didn't pass out... Yes, I'll move in with you."

"He said yes," House whispered to the guard who was surprisingly invested in the conversation and gave him a thumbs up, and then tapped his watch. "Ah and my time is up, they're letting me out at nine, I would hope I don't need to specify AM," Chase laughed and House smiled as he continued talking. "So don't leave any damp spots on my pillow, princess-"

"-I'm not crying-"

"-And maybe pick out some nice lacy panties."

"Pervert," Chase scoffed, and then. "I can buy some if you'd like?"

House spluttered and Chase laughed and there was a thudding noise that House assumed was Chase falling back down onto the bed. The little minx.

"Surprise me." And he hung up.

Sitting back in his cell as he waited for it to be a normal hour to fall asleep, he realised he now had a new better thought than a sulking Tritter to occupy his himself with until morning.

**Author's Note:**

> uh so it would seem the 6k words i wrote about them starting yesterday and into the earlier hours of this morning (i did not go to bed at 3am) wasn't enough so here's another thousand
> 
> seriously though i've never written this much in such a small timespan and i don't know why this is what has inspired me but i'm not complaining? nanowrimo goal here we come.


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